Best Stocks to Buy Now

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last updated 6 November 2025

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Nellie S. Huang, Kim Clark

Kiplinger's annual investing outlook, which includes the best stocks to buy, has been a feature for our readers since 2012.

As executive editor for Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, I have authored the piece since then, surveying the stock market and economy and synthesizing my findings into key takeaways.

That's no small task, given the broad and dynamic nature of the market. Along with conducting plenty of research, I rely on my experience to draw out the most important trends and likely winners for the best stocks to buy.

I've covered this story for over a decade now, but I've been an investing writer for far longer. I've seen investors through a lot of bull markets and bear markets.

How you can choose the best stocks to buy

When investors are attempting to find the best stocks to buy now, they should look beyond factors such as company size (small-cap stocks and large-cap stocks, for instance) or investing style (such as growth or value) and search for stocks of companies with consistent profits, good cash flow and other indicators that reflect quality.

"If a company generates more cash than it needs to run its business, it can do a number of useful things with it, such as pay dividends, buy back its stock, acquire other companies, expand its business and knock out its debts," writes Kiplinger contributor Will Ashworth on the importance of good cash flow.

While Kiplinger's outlook provides context and advice related to general market trends, it's important for individual investors to consider their own risk tolerance and time horizon when deciding what works best for them and their financial goals.

With that in mind, here are seven of the best stocks to buy now.

Data is as of November 6.

Best stocks to buy

When assembling this list of Kiplinger's best stocks to buy, we sought out high-quality companies that boast solid fundamentals such as strong earnings and revenue growth as well as free cash flow.

Free cash flow is the money left over after operating expenses and spending on assets.

Additionally, many of the names featured here can be considered some of the best value stocks as measured by their forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratios.

The names on our list of the best stocks to buy vary by size and industry and are not meant to make up a diversified portfolio.

But all, for one reason or another, are well positioned to benefit over the next 12 months.

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Company	Ticker symbol
Becton, Dickinson	BDX
Fiserv	FI
Goldman Sachs	GS
Kenvue	KVUE
Lam Research	LRCX
Spotify Technology	SPOT
Vertiv Holdings	VRT

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Becton, Dickinson

Sector: Health care
Market value: $50.9 billion
Dividend yield: 2.4%

Becton, Dickinson (BDX) makes single-use surgical products that are replaced regularly.

Morningstar analyst Alex Morozov says approximately 85% of the company's revenue is recurring. Think of the old analogy of blades providing the ongoing revenue stream for razor manufacturers.

Becton, says Morozov, is "a $40 billion-plus business of different blades."

That diversity has helped. While medical-device peers saw declines in their businesses over the past year, Becton's was stable, albeit flat.

At current prices, the health care stock trades at 12 times 2025 expected earnings – a discount to its historic price-earnings ratio and compared with its peers.

Analysts expect earnings to grow 4.0% in fiscal 2026 compared to fiscal 2025. The shares yield 2.4%.

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Fiserv

Sector: Financials
Market value: $33.1 billion
Dividend yield: N/A

Fiserv (FI) provides information-management and e-commerce systems for the financial services industry.

Shares are down 68.5% over the trailing 12 months, and Wall Street has grown cautious the stock. At an average 12-month target price of $100.16 based on 28 estimates, analysts see upside of nearly 63%. But it won't be a straight line higher from here.

Indeed, Argus Research analyst Stephen Biggar cut his rating on FI to Hold from Buy and removed his 12-month target price after the company badly missed third-quarter expectations and sharply lowered full-year guidance.

Fiserv reported earnings of $2.04 per share, down from $2.30 a year ago and well below a consensus estimate of $2.65. And management said 2025 EPS will be $8.50 to $8.60, down from $10.15 to $10.30, on organic revenue growth of 3.5% to 4.0%, down from a prior forecast of 10%.

Fiserv attributed recent weakness to "current conditions in Argentina, the recalibration of assumptions embedded in our original guidance, all necessary investments and the de-prioritization of short-term initiatives."

"Considerable confidence will need to be rebuilt in the company’s growth story," Biggar writes, "before the shares can recover."

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Goldman Sachs

Sector: Financials
Market value: $236.3 billion
Dividend yield: 2.0%

Investment banks did well in 2024, but 2025 "will be even better," says Jay Hatfield, manager of InfraCap Equity Income Fund ETF, thanks in part to an expected increase in initial public offerings (IPOs).

That was before tariff-related uncertainty started to take its toll on markets and forecasts for economic activity.

But Goldman Sachs (GS) has other pluses, including a growing wealth management business that pulled in record fees in 2024. And assets rose to a new high of $3 trillion.

Robust results have pushed the shares up more than 53% over the past 12 months, with gains accelerating along with the broader market in the post-Liberation Day rally.

And the blue chip stock trades at 16 times 2025 expected earnings, in line with its five-year average. Analysts expect annual earnings growth of 20% in 2025, and the stock yields 2%.

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Kenvue

Sector: Consumer staples
Market value: $31.5 billion
Dividend yield: 5.1%

On November 3, after Kenvue (KVUE) stock suffered a steep decline in the aftermath of public statements by Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and President Donald Trump linking acetaminophen, the pain relief medication Kenvue markets as Tylenol, to autism, the company announced it would be acquired by Kimberly-Clark (KMB) for $48.7 billion.

Spun off from Johnson & Johnson in 2023, Kenvue's brands include Band-Aid and Neutrogena as well as Tylenol. The consumer staples stock was trading at just 16 times expected 2025 profits, "mispriced for the portfolio they have," says T. Rowe Price Value fund manager Ryan Hedrick.

KVUE shareholders will receive $3.50 a share in cash as well as 0.14625 KMB shares per KVUE share for a total of $21.01, based on KMB's closing price of $119.71 on October 31.

"There's an opportunity to improve growth, particularly in skin care," Hedrick says, noting that Kenvue's beauty line should benefit from being out of the shadow of a big pharmaceutical firm.

The analyst sees revenue growth of 3% to 4% a year and earnings growth of 6% to 8%. The stock yields 5.1%.

"There's reason to believe this stock will be a better version of itself over time," says Hedrick. And now all those potential benefits will accrue for KMB shareholders, assuming the deal is approved.

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Lam Research

Sector: Technology
Market value: $203.7 billion
Dividend yield: 0.6%

Shares in Lam Research (LRCX), which makes semiconductor manufacturing equipment, has recovered from a slide caused by imposition of U.S. curbs on exports of chip technology and worries stemming from poor results from a big competitor.

The pullback provided a nice entry point for investors seeking out the best stocks to buy.

"Artificial intelligence will continue to fuel demand for semiconductors, and everything is becoming more and more digital," says John Buchanan, editor of The Prudent Speculator.

Analysts expect double-digit earnings growth in both 2025 and 2026.

And one of Wall Street's best stocks to buy trades at 34 times expected 2025 profits – a discount to the typical maker of semiconductor wafer fabrication equipment.

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Spotify Technology

Sector: Communication services
Market value: $127.5 billion
Dividend yield: N/A

Spotify Technology (SPOT), a leading DJ of America's playlists, is spinning into profitability in 2025.

The independent music streamer is no longer a "top pick" from Morgan Stanley Research after SPOT's stock price more than doubled in 2024.

The company flexed in big ways: raising prices after years of holding them effectively flat; realizing savings after a headcount reduction in 2023; and unlocking earning power by launching audiobooks and offering a bundled service.

Morgan Stanley analyst Ben Swinburne recently reiterated his Overweight rating on SPOT and his $800 12-month target price, implying upside of nearly 30% from its recent closing price.

Swinburne said subscription price increases, the impact of AI and new content can drive revenue growth. "Having added significant value to its free and Premium tiers," the analyst concludes, "Spotify in our view kicked off a new pricing cycle this fall and is poised to accelerate growth into next year."

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Vertiv Holdings

Sector: Industrials
Market value: $70.0 billion
Dividend yield: 0.1%

Vertiv Holdings (VRT) is an industrial firm specializing in digital infrastructure and also makes components to keep big data centers and AI computers operating.

Vertiv offers a fluid management system via a liquid cooling loop that includes components such as heat rejection units (cooling distribution units, heat exchangers, chillers) as well as sensors and controls, explains UBS analyst Amit Mehrotra.

Its systems are more effective than others that just blow cold air, using less electricity and allowing computers to be packed more densely together.

Microsoft's (MSFT) introduction of a new cooling system that could eliminate the need for cold plates by bringing liquid coolant directly into the silicon is not a significant threat to Vertiv, which is not in the cold plate business, as Mehrotra explains.

And a new partnership with Nvidia (NVDA) should drive significant revenue and profit growth for one of Wall Street's best stocks to buy.

Vertiv shares sold off in early 2025 after soaring in 2024 and now trade at 44 times expected 2025 earnings. Mehrotra's 12-month target for the stock is $201, implying upside of 10%.

Note: These stock picks first appeared in Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, a monthly, trustworthy source of advice and guidance. Subscribe to help you make more money and keep more of the money you make here.

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Anne Kates Smith brings Wall Street to Main Street, with decades of experience covering investments and personal finance for real people trying to navigate fast-changing markets, preserve financial security or plan for the future. She oversees the magazine's investing coverage, authors Kiplinger’s biannual stock-market outlooks and writes the "Your Mind and Your Money" column, a take on behavioral finance and how investors can get out of their own way. Smith began her journalism career as a writer and columnist for USA Today. Prior to joining Kiplinger, she was a senior editor at U.S. News & World Report and a contributing columnist for TheStreet. Smith is a graduate of St. John's College in Annapolis, Md., the third-oldest college in America.

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